Which to use
“perils” is a noun and “Perkins” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,169
- “perils” frequency rank
- #12,122
- “Perkins” frequency rank
- 37291
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perils | Perkins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of peril | An English and Welsh surname originating as a patronymic from Perkin, a medieval diminutive of Peter. |
Where the eye mixes perils and Perkins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. perils runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against Perkins's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between perils and Perkins
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perils is /ˈpɛɹɪlz/ while Perkins is /ˈpɝkɪnz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37291, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
perils is recorded at frequency rank #25,169, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛɹɪlz/. Perkins is at rank #12,122, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈpɝkɪnz/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 37291, this pair ranks #295,844 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perils vs Perkins
Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "perils": l. Private to "Perkins": kn.
"perils" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "Perkins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perils" for "Perkins" ever safe?
Which is more common, "perils" or "Perkins"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "perils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Perkins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,844 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perils" and "Perkins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "penile vs perils". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #295,844 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.